“Ramón Oviedo, El Triunfo del Espíritu” Opens at the MAM

“Ramón Oviedo, El Triunfo del Espíritu” Opens at the MAM
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, July 25^th, 2014

The Ministry of Culture and Mario Martínez Fernández, in coordination with the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), opened the exhibition “Ramón Oviedo, El Triunfo del Espíritu”(Ramón Oviedo, The Triumph of the Spirit”), as an institutional initiative focused on the importance of studying the presence and contributions of cultural patronage in the Dominican Republic.

The exhibition will remain open until the end of August, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic, located on Ave. Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, in Santo Domingo.

The opening ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, accompanied by María Elena Ditrén, Director of the Museum of Modern Art; Mario Martínez Fernández and his wife Socorro Veloz Martínez, collectors; and Maestro Ramón Oviedo.

The following personalities were also in attendance: Amable López Meléndez, Art Critic and Chief Curator at the MAM; Danilo de los Santos, renowned artist and historian of Dominican art; and María del Carmen Ossaye, Editorial Director and Coordinator of the events that will take place in the framework of the exhibition.

While delivering the opening remarks, Ditrén highlighted that the levels of excellence, expertise and contribution to the national art have made maestro Ramón Oviedo ??worthy of the highest recognition in this sector: the 2013National Plastic Arts Award. These are the reasons why it is an honor for the Museum of Modern Art to receive the exhibition that is part of the tribute that the Dominican government, through this top award, pays to the artist and fostering the exhibition of a select sample of his works.

Martínez Fernández explained that “for years my wife (Socorro) and I had talked about the project that has become a reality; primarily motivated by the need to share some of the secrets of our collection and, above all, as a tribute to the most admired maestro of plastic arts in our country.

He added: “I do not know when or where the term `oviedofilo´ was coined, but I do remember the moment a friend ´labeled´ me as such and the whole process that led me to fall in love with maestro Oviedo’s work; its versatility, the way it portrays the everyday life, his drawing and sense of humor that permeates many of his works, his constant renewal that has earned him to be called the always young maestro by some of his friends and plastic arts critics and very especially the wonderful human being that reflects his greatness with humility, with the accolades that he has consistently given novice artists by attending their shows or providing proper advice”.

For the visual artist, critic and historian of Dominican art, Danilo de los Santos, over a hundred works make up the body of the “oviedolista” collection of Mario Martínez: acrylics, watercolors, ink, mixed media and sculptures. Realism, naturalism, abstraction, surrealism, expressionism, geometric forms and even wonderful or magic as the linguistic polysynthesis, above all, come together in the collection backed by its author, renowned maestro of Dominican art.

During the opening ceremony, the book “El Esplendor del Mural” (The Splendor of the Mural), by writer Efraim Castillo, was released. It analyzes some 23 of Ramón Oviedo’s murals distributed among international organizations and local institutions. Also“The Triumph of the Spirit”, with texts by María Elena Ditrén, Amable López Meléndez and Danilo de los Santos, talks about the career of the winner of the 2013 National Prize of Plastic Arts and will be presented at the end of the exhibition.

"Ramón Oviedo, El Triunfo del Espíritu" Opens at the MAM